SOME areas in Mindanao will still experience brownouts despite having an optimistic power supply situation on the island, an official from Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) said.
Romeo Montenegro, director of investment promotions and public affairs of MinDA, told Sun.Star Davao earlier that some electric cooperatives in Mindanao are buried in debts.
“They are saddled with debts, that is why their ability to contract is limited to their cash flow,” he said, adding that many of these electric cooperatives are mostly located in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (Armm).
He said they are working closely with the Department of Energy (DOE), National Power Corporation (NPC), and the National Electrification Administration (NEA) to look into the situation of these electric cooperatives.
“Definitely, one of the discussions way forward is coming up with specific plans to be able to address their financial debacle,” Montenegro said.
He also said the collection efficiency of these electric cooperatives should also be improved.
“Before these electric cooperatives would be able to expect improve supply situation for their respective areas, it is important that they are also able to demonstrate headways and improvements in terms of collection efficiency,” Montenegro said.
Aside from that, another factor why some areas will still be experiencing problems is that these electric cooperatives have contracted power projects that are yet to operate in 2016 and 2017.
“There are some electric cooperatives who may find themselves still having short fall because their contracts are not yet available since the power plants are still in the construction phase,” Montenegro said.
According to the Mindanao Power Monitoring Committee (MPMC), a total of 580 megawatts (MW) are expected to boost the Mindanao grid this year. These power plants are: Therma South Inc.’s 300 MW Coal-fired Energy Project; the first 100 MW unit of the Sarangani Energy Corporation’s 200 MW Southern Mindanao Coal-fired Power Station; 30 MW Puyo Hydroelectric Power Project of the First Gen Mindanao Hydropower Corp.; the first 150 MW unit of the 300MW SMC Davao Power Plant Project of the San Miguel Consolidated Power Corporation.
Montenegro said power projects in Mindanao that are expected to go online this year are on track with their completion and commissioning dates.
MPMC also reported that there will be 720 MW coming in 2016 and 550.6 MW in 2017. The island’s power supply will have a mix of hydro electric, biomass, oil, and coal.
Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on February 28, 2015.
